We told you it was coming and its finally here, the N97 Widget Design competition has just gone live. My initial impression had been that the widget would be designed by Nokia and all the user needed to submit was an idea. However, I was off the mark and you will need to design it yourself with the tools provided by Nokia. But, I was right in my prediction about the prize. The winning widget will go into production, and the winning widget designer will receive a production-mode Nokia N97 ahead of the public release, pre-installed with their homescreen widget. That’s some incentive.

In order to participate, you will need to download the design package below, design your widget and upload it for others to rate. Next, people will log their opinions about the various entries and the ten highest-rated designs will go in front of a panel of judges selected from the Nokia Nseries team. The panel will then choose the best home screen widget based on creativity, usability and quality of design.

The competition ends on the February 27, 2009 so you have enough time, the winners be announced on the March 13, 2009.